Archive for February, 2015

A litmus test for centering your Attitude
One of the most powerful questions we can ask ourselves is, “Am I a fountain, or a drain.” There is precious little good news in the media today. If we stay wired to TV newscasts we’ll be in a foot race for the ledge of a tall building. The question means that we have options. Choose wisely is the caution.
We learn that along the way that we should be asking ourselves questions like: “What would I do, if I could do anything in the world, and knew that I could not fail?” And we find that however we answer that question, the response we will get is: “then do it anyway.” Whether you have a guarantee or not, do it anyway. Why? Because you are your own guarantee! When we accept responsibility for our success and acknowledge that silver bullets don’t exist, then we’ve raised our game to that of successful people. What determines our level of effort? Whether we will get up after we’ve been knocked down? Whether we will try when we’ve been told we can’t do something? Again the answer is: ATTITUDE!

Invisible forces are at play in organizations when a change of direction is in the wind. Larger businesses require more time, effort, and resources to change direction. We find that human nature is a powerful force when working in organizations. Fear, skepticism, and the avoidance of pain or discomfort are usually the causes for resistance to change. If you have ever seen a mule resist being urged to move, the effects of change can cause people in the organization to make mules look tame. The fight is on. Excuses flowing. Heels dug in instead of embracing it. Human nature at work.
So, how do we address these human factors? Make the changes. I find that resistance eases with knowledge and information. We communicate, engage people and spread the agenda throughout the organization. There are formal communication channels and then there are the ‘best’ communication channels…the informal. Find the right team members who are the mainstays in that informal channel. Get them on your team. And, when the boss has absolute clarity on where she’s going, the staff all of a sudden is motivated, on the team, alert. Funny how that is…

Know the truth about yourself, Know the truth about others.
Self-Awareness, Self-Knowledge. This is not about sitting on the mountain top chanting and humming. It is about clarity in your Purpose. Knowing Why you do what you do. That’s when CEOs and business owners can clearly see another’s perspective and deal with leadership issues. Build awareness/knowledge through self-appraisals. You’ll need someone help you with this. A coach or consultant. “Read your resume” is a practice I encourage, especially when the tide seems to be against you. What shaped you? what are the sources for your values? what decisions have affected me? What are my values and what do I stand for? Then focus on your Goals, Purpose, Why. That’s when our clarity provides the compassion and empathy required of a leader. It starts with knowing yourself.

We see a lot about leadership. Layers of experts telling us what is important. For me one of the ‘absolutes’ about leaders is that the business owners or those who go higher into an organization must be more adept with psychological and relational issues. You’ve got to know about other people. That just uncovered a sea of discussion, but we’ll tackle that later.
How many times have I been told “my people aren’t motivated”, “we can’t get the right people”, “there’s a disease in my company.” Then I come in to ‘fix’ it. Well, guess with whom we begin on the fixing stuff. Right, the boss. In 30-60 days guess how well the team is doing on all issues… right again, they are getting in step with the boss. This isn’t sometimes, it’s every time.
So, the rest of the message is that owners, executives , leaders, and oh yes Board Members, must become more Self-Aware. Their ability to see others’ needs and perspectives gives them a real advantage in finding solutions, leading to successful conclusions, motivating the team . More to come on Self-Awareness.

I was reminded recently by a client and again by a friend how Attitude effects everything. Everything is kind of a big area! But Attitude reaches all of it. It’s one of the few things we alone control. No other person or thing has that control. There may be influencers, but no controllers.

I watched as a client’s Attitude started to dip, severely. No new business coming in. All the Networking wasn’t working. Finances getting tight, and so on. Then! wham! The Networking started paying off in New contacts. Renewed interest in talking to him. New clients. Guess what happened to the Attitude. Guess. Yep, right back up. New level of positive.

We will have those ‘bad’ moments where Attitude comes under attack. As my Ranger buddy says, “Dawg, you gotta go forward, backward or to the sides. Sittin’ there will get you killed.” We have to decide and we have to move, because we are the only ones who completely control our Attitude.

This client got himself moving again by Networking his way back into the new business game. What can you do? What WILL you do? In addition to Networking, what can we do to maintain the positive mental Attitude.